Left palm beach at 5 pm on Frontier for Las Vegas. Flight
was delayed by 40 mins. Got worried that I would not make my connecting flight
from Philadelphia to Vegas but no worries, even that was delayed. Reached Vegas
at around 12:30 am. The Vegas airport is huge! I was on a different terminal
than family, so had to take a shuttle from terminal 2 to 1 then find them. Not
bad, but really the airport is not clearly marked.
Took Uber to Stratosphere where 2 rooms were booked. The line for check-in was
so long and moving so slow. It was 3 am by the time we got into our rooms and
just crashed.
Day 2: 18 December - to Zion National Park
Got up at 7 am to watch the world cup – Argentina vs France.
My heart is for Argentina. And after an awesome game where I think both teams
should get the world cup, Argentina won!! Yay! Great start to vacation. Took an
hour nap, sort of, then got ready as we have to check out by 12 pm. The goal is
to get the van and do some Indian grocery and Walmart grocery and have lunch
and leave so we can see sunset in Zion. But lunch got better of us – we ate at Everest
Indian place after shopping at Rani Indian market. Both were a bit pricy. I
think we could have gotten food faster at a non Indian place, but Indian is
fine. I did not think we would have enough time to do Walmart grocery and see
the sunset…I was right. We did not do grocery and did not see sunset in Zion.
Sunset happened way before our stop at Zion Park Lodge. I guess we could have
done grocery!
We drove a bit into Zion to see where we will be coming back
for the night photography for Sarvesh. After driving back we checked into the
hotel (Zion Park Motel) – nice hotel. There was no breakfast at the motel, but they gave us vouchers for a drink at the visitors shop in front of the motel. Went to the del Sol supermarket to get
some bread and jam (so expensive here). Also got some panini for kids for
dinner. After dinner, we went to Zion again for night photography. It was sooo
cold!
We did drive at night into the Zion Park. I could see the beautiful mountains and could not wait to get in the park next day. At night we drove again into the park for night photography. Oh darn it was soooo cold!! I was freezing. I had brought enough clothes but I forgot gloves. The nice thing about going around in winter vacation is all the beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere.
The night was clear and crisp. I did see a lot of stars but
after a while the cold got better of me and I sat back in the van. We stopped at
two more locations to take photos and then came back.
Day 3: 19 December - Zion National Park
The goal was to try and leave a bit early, but we did not
leave until 10 am…a bit late for visiting a national park. There was no
breakfast at this hotel. They did give us vouchers for a drink at the Zion Park
Gift shop. We all got hot cocoa – it was tasty!
Sarvesh tried out his drone over the park. I enjoyed seeing the mountains with him on the viewer.
We drove on Hwy 9 drive for a bit. This goes all the way to
Bryce Canyon but then we came back and went to see Zion. We will take another
route to go to Bryce. The scenic drive through Zion is not that long. We could
take our vehicle because in winters they don’t run the shuttles.
The drive was nice, lots of mountains, one river going
through the canyons. We stopped one place to take some photos and then back on
the drive again. It is quite cold! But at mid point they stopped us and said
they were not allowing anymore vehicles to go ahead as the park was crowded.
What a bummer!! Who knew this was a thing! We would have to wait till 2 pm when
they might allow more cars to go through.
We parked there at the midpoint and did a very short hike along
the river. Really pretty, but it was cold. One thing is that because of winter,
there is no greenery, so all the scenery is quite gloomy, but spectacular
because of the snow. I can see that it would be a beautiful park, mountains and streams. But I feel we barely saw a fraction of the park in the one day we were there. We then drove to
the Visitor Center, got some stuff.
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| Zion National Park |
Since we did not want to take the bus around we decided to move on to our next place - Days Inn, Panguitch, near Bryce Canyon. But we went through Kolob Canyon (part of Zion National Park) scenic drive on Hwy 143 (near Parowan). Kolob canyon is on the northwest side of Zion. It was not
crowded and easy to go in, but roads still had a bit of snow on them. The 5 mi
drive was very pretty and worth it. |
| Kolob Canyon |
Then we left for the other scenic drive towards Brian’s
head. Stopped in the middle to eat, but then also saw Walmart and did some
grocery, then the kids wanted to eat at Taco Bell, so did that and then left
for our drive. Hwy 143 was really pretty. It was an uphill drive to 8000ft. the
snow kept getting deeper and more beautiful. There were a whole lot of ski
resorts in the middle. No one was skiing but the hills were ready!
The drive was really beautiful. I don’t think I would have
done this by myself in winter time. I am too much of a chicken to drive in
winter in snowy places. So it was really good to have Bhaiya drive.
We reached Pangwitch at around 6 pm. Checked in to our rooms. It is super duper cold here. My bones are getting chilled. There is only one place open to eat here – a pizza place, C Stop Pizza. The wait is 40 mins, so we placed the order and came back. Went back to pick up pizza and had dinner. It was good pizza. Time to go to bed. Will try to leave early tomorrow.
Day 4: 20 December - Bryce Canyon
Today we wanted to get out by 7 am but got a bit late start.
Went for breakfast at 7:30 am. It was okay. Left around 8 am for Bryce canyon.
It was too cold – 10oF. There was snow everywhere. Bryce is just magical. There
was not so much traffic into Bryce in the morning (or even later on in the
day). Bryce is about 18 mile scenic drive with many stops on the way. The
visitor center was closed when we entered the park. We had to go through Dixie forest
to get to Bryce and the beautiful scenery started from even before but when
there it was even better. The red rocks and strange formations started there.
The snow made everything look even more beautiful.
There was not too much crowd at the park. The first point was "Inspiration Point" and I was sold on Bryce Canyon. For me this was prettier than Zion. I was just amazed at the rock formations. There was snow everywhere which gave the park a different look. And yes, it was cold! Walked to one more step higher at the same point but the
view was almost the same. There was another level to go but I did not go as my
shoes were not winter shoes.
Drove to next stops – each was really beautiful! Took so
many photos! It took about 3 hrs to drive up and down and stop everywhere. We
did not walk any trails as it was too cold and also many were closed. We
stopped at the Visitor center on the way back and now it was open. It was nice
– I bought some stuff, as usual. It would be wonderful to walk through the park trails. Someday....
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| Bryce Canyon |
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| Bryce Canyon |
Then came the drive to go towards Page, AZ. There was some
debate on when to eat lunch and we ended up eating on the side of the road at
around 1 pm. It was simple snacks.
We stopped in the middle at McDonalds to get hot
chocolate and coffee and then continued to Page. The scenery became really
beautiful – more strange looking red rocks, more layers in the rocks…green
also. Really pretty. We stopped at Wahweap lookout point near Glenn Canyon. So beautiful!! There was the lake, the dam area and it was sunset. Just beautiful.
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| Wahweap Lookout |
Had dinner at a Mexican restaurant (Fiesta Mexicana), really good food! The great thing about going with family and kids is that the kids take care of finding a good place to eat. Really great day with so much that we saw. Clarion Inn was a nice place to stay. And the hotel was
comfortable too. We ended up getting connecting rooms which really tickled the kids.
Day 5: 21 December – Monument Valley
No rush to go this morning. We have a 2.5 hr drive to the
Olja monument. Breakfast was good and filling. Left for the monument before 10
am. Got there by 12ish. Even before we reached there the scenery had changed to
redder and strange looking rocks. Not too much traffic. I think all of this is Navajo land.
We paid $8 per person
for entry. Went to the visitor center first and looked around. There was a lot
of goods for sale – so overpriced! The scenery from the back of the center was the classic view - amazing.
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| Monument Valley |
Then it was the time for the scenic drive. It was all gravel road. There was so much red around – red mud, red
rocks, red everything. There were many
stops along the way and we stopped at them all. The scenery was beautiful and
worth every penny of the 8$. There was snow also on the ground. The rocks were
shaped in real interesting way because of weathering. I have never seen
anything like this before! It was all out of this world. One place where we
stopped, there was a snack place. I bought some Indian fry bread (like bhatura)
– had them sprinkle it with sugar and all of us shared it. It was good and a
good snack.
The drive through the
monument took about 2 hrs. Sarvesh wanted to see the sunset, so we decided to stay until then. There was nothing much to do for 2-3 hours, so we just lounged around the hotel and enjoyed the view. Sunset was beautiful. The drive back was all in the dark so no more views, but we did stop once for Sarvesh to take photos of the starry night.
I think that night we just had leftovers for dinner. And we had to do laundry, which the hotel had washing machines.
Day 6: 22 December – Grand Canyon
Next day was checkout and on to Grand Canyon. But first - Horseshoe Canyon. I thought it would be a small attraction, but no, the parking lot was full! After about 15 min walk we got to the horseshoe. it was really pretty. Totally worth it –
one time. No wonder there are a lot of people there. We walked around, enjoyed photography and then drove on.
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| Horseshoe Canyon |
We really wanted to go to Antelope Canyon, but you have to reserve a spot and pay separately and go with only guides. You have to book quite in advance to get the right booking. We did not get it the day before (of course!), so we decided to skip it this time and go to another slot Canyon before going to Grand Canyon. After that went to Marble Canyon. It was a bit of a drive
north. It was pretty there but not really like the slot canyons we were
expecting. There was the river and some really unique looking rocks but other
than that could not do much.
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| Marble Canyon |
Started the drive to
Grand Canyon. The drive was good and so was the scenery. I could start seeing
the slits on the earth’s surface. Really fascinating to see. Stopped a couple
more places before the park actually started. Grand Canyon started appearing even before the entrance to the park at Watchman Tower. That view! Amazing! All of Grand Canyon is amazing, so I should just get that out of the way. The Colorado river views, the cracks in the earth and how it all formed over millions of years, is just something else. It is just fascinating. And the thing about winter is that we saw snow everywhere, which made it even more beautiful. It just gives it an added great look.
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| Grand Canyon |
We stayed at the Yavapai Lodge that night. These are small number of rooms over a large area, not a large hotel in one place. So it seems like we are in a cabin in the woods. Got to our rooms – really comfortable but no microwave! Bhabhi
had brought her heating kettle so used that to make tea and then heat the ready
made chole and paneer to eat with naan for dinner. It all worked out.
We went back near the visitor center to get some grocery and buy some momentos from the gift shop. A little incident that happened. It was quite dark outside when we were leaving for the gift shop, and I fell down on the curb! Scraped my knee and sort of twisted my ankle. It was a bit hard to walk but I took plenty of pain killers that night and was much better next day. But the pain lingered for a few months. The most embarrassing thing was that I went to Grand Canyon and fell on the parking lot curb - sigh.
The supermarket was wonderful – it has everything – just at
double price. We got some jam and oatmeal for breakfast. In the souvenir
section we found 99cent mugs so got a whole bunch along with some small things.
Day 7: 23 December – Grand Canyon
Luckily no swelling today, just a bit of pain in the ankle.
The scratch on my knee will take a few days to heal but it’s bearable. Got up
first at 7 am to go see the sunrise at Mather point. We were not the only ones
there! It was full of people. The sunrise was not that great as there were a
lot of clouds. Came back again after 8 am.
Breakfast was done in the room with bars, bread-jam and
oatmeal. We then checked out and went to the visitor center. Watched a 20 min
movie on the Grand Canyon. I think the geology of it went above my head – too
big of a time scale for me to comprehend – more than a billion years. Lots of
sedimentation, erosion, ocean water, rain, and earthquakes and finally Colorado
river made the canyons what they are today. All awesome.
We then drove to the next point – the Yavapai point and
walked the about 2 mi long time trail. Each step we took was about 10 years in
canyon years. The interesting thing along the way were the several blocks of
rocks from various times – 430 million years, 800 million years and so on. (Some
names were on Indian gods!) Really nice way of showing the geology with time.
There was some snow on the path, but I was careful not to step on it. The walk
was enjoyable, the scenery was beautiful, and the weather was bearably cold. It was about 1.5 miles and took about 2 hours to do as we were stopping and taking photos as we enjoyed the walk. It was the "Trail of Time", part of the Rim Trail. Each meter of this trail indicates one million years and the markers are geological rocks with specific names. Really interesting. This was the only major hike we were doing today, and I think it was quite good and enough. It led us to the Yavapai point from where we took the bus back to our original visitor center parking.
After the trail we went to the visitor center and from the nearby hotel took
the blue bus to the main visitor center and then the orange one to Yavapai
point to our car. The interesting thing was that there were so many Indians at the Mather's point, but we did not see them anywhere else in the park. Ate our traditional bread/yogurt lunch and started on the
main drive towards the end of the canyon.
The drive went along the rim of the canyon and had various
stops, we stopped at almost all of them. All were beautiful and gave us
wonderful views. On the last point we also saw an elk. On the way back, we
ended up seeing even more elk and then deer. We drove out of the park at around
4:30 pm and stopped at a McDonald to have a coffee. There it was collectively
decided that we wanted to see the sunset on the canyon and eat Mexican food at
Flagstaff and then go to the hotel in Cottonwood (south of Sedona). That would
be a lot of driving in the dark for Bhaiya. But that is what was decided, and
he was okay with it.
Drove back to the canyon, only about 20 mins away and stayed
till about 5:30 pm. The sunset was nice. The color changes on the rocks were
amazing.
Then it was onwards to Cottonwood to our hotel. Hotels in Sedona were either unavailable or too expensive, so we stayed a bit south of Sedona. Had dinner a forgettable Mexican restaurant, Agave. The next stop was
Walmart to buy bread and chips. After that stop there was going to be one more stop
– star photography near Cottonwood. The drive on 89A was quite treacherous, all switchbacks and curves and going down. Did not expect that. We stopped 7 miles before Cottonwood to have Sarvesh take
his stars photos. There really are many stars in this part of the dark country.
Really pretty.
Finally reached hotel around 10:30 pm. So
tired!!
The Best Western hotel at Cottonwood was comfortable. We should have stayed at Sedona somewhere...but...circumstances.
Day 8: 24 December – Sedona
The program today was to see Sedona and drive to Flagstaff before we drove to Las Vegas. There are many things to do in Sedona. I would have liked to stay here one more day. We have to go to the Airport Mesa view point, see the Cathedral Rock, and see if we can get to some vortex points. Vortex points are high energy points from the earth. This is why there are so many spas and wellness places in Sedona. Apparently the entire area of Sedona is on a vortex, so just being there makes you feel good (and it did!).
Started a little late yet again – at 10am. Breakfast at the
hotel was quite good today – had eggs, waffle and bagels.
At 10 am left the hotel to go towards the scenic drive in
Sedona. We went towards the cathedral rock – should have done the hike there.
Drove a bit more to go to the Amitabha stupa. It was quite peaceful and lovely
scenery. Stayed there for a bit. Then everyone decided to go for a hike at a
canyon – it was okay – just a bit long to spend on a not such a great hike when
we were spending only one day in Sedona. From there we went on to the Mesa
airport drive to see the scenic overlook – which was definitely something!! We
decided to come back for sunset there. So we had some time to go for lunch and
then to the market. The Mexican place we went to was really good. We got
enchiladas and a vegetable burrito. The salsa was great too along with some of
the other sauces.
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| Cathedral Rock |
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| Bond Villain's lair |
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| Amitabh Stupa |
After that we went to the market. It is Christmas eve so shops were sort of closing. The market was really cool with beautiful art spaces and sculptures. The Christmas decorations were lovely, and I am sure at night it would look lovely. My original plan was to stay in Sedona for two days, but plan got changed. Oh well…now we know to spend more time here next time.
Next stop was back to the airport Mesa for sunset. The vortex is also there on the Mesa place. There is only parking for 7-8 cars there, so we went on to the sunset first. It was lovely of course. Such red rocks and the scenery – just gorgeous!
Then we drove down to see if there was parking for the vortex, it wasn’t, so we hung around for a while debating what to do and soon one spot became available. It was a bit of a climb up (The summit trail) but when we reached up there, I did not feel any energy. The scenery was definitely lovely and now it was just a bit darker. Really good. I did not feel any vortex but they say the whole of Sedona is on a vortex that is why people come there for spiritual healing.
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| Airport Mesa road |
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| Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village |
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| Vortex point on Airport road |
We then started to drive to Flagstaff. Bhabhi wanted to stop at the downtown market which was all lit up. It was pretty but really nothing to see here. But we did walk around and then left around 6:40 pm. One hour later we were at our hotel. We picked a hotel (LaQuinta) that was on the highway as we just need a place as a stopover. Tonight was just a fast food takeout. Had tea, relaxed a bit, and then made plans for the 3 days in Vegas. Around 10 pm the guys went to Del Taco to get some food – I got a soft taco. It was okay. That is it! Another good day! 
